- Two deaths reported at this year’s Burning Man festival
Source: United Press International
“Two people have died at this year’s Burning Man alternative arts festival being held in Nevada’s Black Rock Desert, officials said. The first death was reported Friday and the second Saturday by the Burning Man Project. According to the U.S. nonprofit behind the annual nine-day event, Craigh Mann, 60, was found dead in his camp by campmates Saturday at 3 p.m. … The identity of the first death has not been made public. Burning Man said it was a participant in their mid-50s who experienced an undisclosed medical emergency on Thursday. … Foul play is not suspected in either death, the Reno Gazette Journal reported.” (09/06/260
https://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2026/09/06/Burning-Man-deaths/2961788743342/
- Nepal holds a day of mourning after floods kill at least 1,300 people
Source: Associated Press
“Nepal held a day of mourning Monday to remember those killed in the Aug. 26 floods, with flags lowered at government offices and families concluding mourning rituals. Monday was the 13th day since the flooding which killed more than 1,300 people in Nepal and Tibet and left some 5,000 missing, including foreigners, according to Nepal’s disaster management agency. In predominantly Hindu Nepal, mourning periods last 13 days, during which close family members stay home and relatives visit to pay their respects. Rituals are held on the final day to pray for the souls of the departed. Several people whose relatives remain missing performed symbolic funerals. Cremation is an important final rite in Hindu tradition, and performing the ceremony even without the bodies of their loved ones provided some families a sense of spiritual release.” (09/07/26)
https://apnews.com/article/nepal-tibet-floods-mourning-f5477d09ca1c56541450828302818d73
- SpaceX rival launches rocket in historic first, says industry is “desperate” for more
Source: CNBC
“German rocket maker Isar Aerospace successfully reached orbit for the first time over the weekend, marking a milestone for Europe’s commercial space industry as the company looks to ramp up launches to meet what it says is booming demand. The Munich-based company’s Spectrum rocket reached orbit on Saturday and successfully deployed its payloads in low Earth orbit, an achievement that came on only its second test flight. Chief Commercial Officer Stella Guillen told CNBC on Monday that the company was now focused on scaling production, saying the space industry was ‘desperate’ for additional launch capacity and that Isar had a pipeline worth more than 10 billion euros ($11.6 billion).” (09/07/26)
https://www.cnbc.com/2026/09/07/isar-aerospace-spacex-rival-rocket-launch.html
- Serbia: Thousands turn out for “Butcher of Bosnia” funeral
Source: BBC News [UK state media]
“Thousands of people have turned out in Serbia’s capital, Belgrade, to attend the funeral of the convicted war criminal Ratko Mladić. Widely known as the Butcher of Bosnia, Mladić died at the age of 84 while serving a life sentence in the UN prison in The Hague, the Netherlands. He was found guilty of genocide by a UN war crimes tribunal for his role in the 1995 Srebrenica massacre, when around 8,000 Bosniak Muslim men and boys were killed. It was described as Europe’s worst atrocity since World War Two. A Serbian government minister had initially said that Mladić would be given a state funeral but those plans were changed after objections from some European leaders. … Despite his conviction for genocide, Mladić remains a national figure perceived by many Serbs as a heroic defender of the nation.” (09/07/26)
- North Korea: Regime commissions second nuclear-capable naval destroyer
Source: United Press International
“North Korea commissioned its second 5,000-ton destroyer, state media reported Monday, as leader Kim Jong Un called for further strengthening the country’s naval power with nuclear-capable warships. Kim attended a commissioning ceremony for the Kang Kon at the eastern port city of Wonsan on Sunday, the official Korean Central News Agency reported. … KCNA did not specify which weapons the Kang Kon would carry or explicitly say that nuclear weapons had been installed aboard it. In July, however, Pyongyang conducted weapons tests from the ship that included the launch of what it called a ‘strategic’ cruise missile, a term North Korea typically uses to indicate nuclear capability.” (09/07/26)
- US-based pirates steal, sink “narco-refueling station”
Source: Fox News
“U.S. forces on Monday sank a floating refueling vessel used by an Ecuadorian organized crime ring, officials said. Forces with Joint Task Force Western Hemisphere (JTFWH) interdicted the refueling vessel used for ‘at-sea drug trafficking operations’ in the Eastern Pacific Ocean, U.S. Southern Command (SOUTHCOM) said. … The vessel was involved with the Los Choneros narco-terrorist [sic] organization, SOUTHCOM said. The people aboard were removed and will be handed over to Ecuadorian authorities.” (09/07/26)
- At Least Five Killed in Amazon Prime Air Cargo Plane Crash in Miami
Source: US News & World Report
“At least five people died when an Amazon Prime Air cargo flight overran a runway and crashed while landing at Miami International Airport on Sunday, local officials said. Prime Air Flight 7598 overran the airport’s diagonal runway shortly before 2 p.m. EDT (1800 GMT) and struck multiple vehicles on the ground, officials said during a news conference on Sunday afternoon. Five people were also injured in the crash, including three who are in critical condition, said Miami-Dade Fire Chief Ray Jadallah. At least two people were trapped in vehicles that were struck by the plane, and the pilot and co-pilot were trapped inside the plane by the crash, Jadallah said.” (09/06/26)
- Senile reality TV star floods social media with AI images annexing two countries, renaming a state and claiming ownership of the moon
Source: New York Post
“President Trump is spending Labor Day flooding his Truth Social account with AI-generated images about conquering both the Earth and outer space alike. Trump on Monday posted a map of North America, where both Canada and Mexico are annexed to the United States — and shaded in stars and stripes. He dropped several posts suggesting the state of New Mexico be renamed ‘New America.’ The posts carried various maps bearing the new name. In another, Trump claimed the moon for the United States.” (09/07/26)
- Philippines: Duterte posts bail after arrest order for alleged threats against Marcos
Source: ABC News
“Philippines Vice President Sara Duterte posted bail Saturday after an order was issued for her arrest the previous day on charges that she publicly threatened to arrange the assassination of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and two other people. … The vice president, who has denied the allegations, showed a court order lifting the arrest warrant issued by the court Friday and said her lawyers instructed her to keep a copy on hand. She urged journalists to surround her on the way to her car because she did not feel safe. … Paul Lawrence Lim, one of her attorneys, said court staff took Duterte’s fingerprints and she posted 360,000 pesos bail ($5,740) for three counts of grave threats. After the arrest order was issued Friday, he said Duterte would fight the charges.” (09/05/26)
- Grindr to pay £26 million to settle claims it allegedly shared users’ HIV status
Source: BBC News [UK state media]
“Grindr has agreed to pay £26m to settle a lawsuit over allegations it shared users’ personal information – including their HIV status – with third parties. The world’s largest LGBTQ+ dating app was sued in the High Court in 2024 over claims it misused people’s personal information. The class action suit was later served in the US, with the law firm leading the case saying it had signed up more than 11,000 claimants. According to a US regulatory filing, Grindr will make two £13m payments to settle the claims. The firm said the settlement includes no admission of liability.” (09/07/26)
- MO: AG asks SCOTUS to protect GOP re-gerrymander
Source: Politico
“Missouri Attorney General Catherine Hanaway on Friday night asked the U.S. Supreme Court for an emergency stay of a Missouri high court ruling that found the state cannot use new, heavily gerrymandered districts in the November election. … the Missouri Supreme Court on Thursday put the brakes on a congressional map drawn by Republicans last year with the backing of President Donald Trump and ordered a Democrat-organized referendum on the GOP’s map proposal, which would have likely given Republicans a 7-1 advantage by eliminating the Kansas City district held by longtime Democratic Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (D-Mo.), be put to a vote this fall. The court ruled that the November elections must proceed in accordance with the map Missouri used in 2022, which still saw Republicans favored in six of the state’s eight districts.” (09/05/26)
https://www.politico.com/news/2026/09/05/missouri-attorney-general-map-supreme-court-01066473
- Prosecutors drop Khalid Sheikh Mohammed confession appeal to protect 2028 trial for alleged 9/11 mastermind
Source: Fox News
“Military prosecutors will move ahead with the trial against the mastermind of the Sept. 11 attacks without a key confession, a decision made to avoid further delays in the long-awaited proceedings scheduled for 2028. The federal government has decided not to appeal a recent ruling by a military judge that threw out statements made by Khalid Sheikh Mohammed in 2007. … Appeals can take years to resolve, an outcome military prosecutors want to avoid given the series of delays that have prolonged the wait for victims’ families to receive justice. Mohammed and his alleged co-conspirators — Walid bin Attash, Mustafa al-Hawsawi, and Ammar al-Baluchi — are scheduled to go on trial in June 2028.” [editor’s note: Not a constitutional trial, a “military tribunal” – TLK] (09/07/26)
- Germany: Far-right AfD courts conservative support after historic state election win
Source: Reuters
“The Alternative for Germany appealed on Monday to lawmakers from Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s conservatives to support its bid to rule Saxony-Anhalt after the far-right party surged into first place in the eastern German state’s election. The anti-immigrant, pro-Russia AfD won nearly 44% of the vote, official results showed, an outcome that underlined the deep unpopularity of Merz’s ruling coalition and also triggered alarm among Germany’s neighbours, France and Poland. However, the party — which wants to deport immigrants, halt support for Ukraine and ditch the euro — has fallen short of an absolute majority in the state legislature, winning 39 of the 83 seats, and hopes to win over individual conservative lawmakers. The election result raises serious questions about the longstanding refusal of Germany’s mainstream parties, including Merz’s Christian Democrats (CDU), to work with the AfD, a policy known as the ‘firewall’.” (09/07/26)
- Trump regime asks SCOTUS to allow postal election-rigging scheme
Source: Washington Post
“The Trump administration asked the Supreme Court on Thursday to immediately allow new restrictions on mail-in balloting …. The administration says the new rules, set out by President Donald Trump in an executive order, are necessary to keep noncitizens from voting. Under the plans, states would have to get approval for the design of their ballot envelopes from the Postal Service and would have to provide the federal government with lists of voters who are eligible to receive mail ballots. … Trump’s executive order prohibits the Postal Service from delivering mail-in ballots in states that do not turn over voter data through a new online portal.” (09/03/26)
- Russia: Putin’s top nuclear general “shot in face by motorcycle assassin”
Source: Metro [UK]
“One of Russia’s top nuclear generals is clinging to life after a suspected Ukrainian assassination attempt outside his home. Major General Nikolai Varpakhovich, 56, was being driven out of his property when a would-be assassin pulled up next to him and opened fire in Saratov, Russia. The close ally of Vladimir Putin accused of ordering a deadly missile strike on Kyiv’s children hospital, was hit in the face and chest, reported Kanal 24, a Ukrainian news outlet. His driver reportedly managed to escape, later returning to the scene and calling for an ambulance. Varpakhovich was left in critical condition and was flown to Moscow on a medical evacuation flight, the report said. The gunman has not been found.” (09/03/26)
https://metro.co.uk/2026/09/03/putins-top-nuclear-general-shot-face-motorcycle-assassin-29529205/
- Billionaire Leon Black Sues US House Committee Over Epstein Investigation
Source: US News & World Report
“Wall Street billionaire Leon Black on Thursday sued a congressional committee that had ordered him to provide lawmakers with copies of non-disclosure agreements as part of a probe into the activities of the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. In June, Black refused to answer questions from lawmakers about victims of Epstein’s abuse and the agreements. He declined to appear at a deposition the committee had scheduled for Thursday. He accused lawmakers of exceeding their constitutional authority when they subpoenaed him to provide the agreements. … Black is one of several prominent political and business figures who have been called to testify about their ties to the late financier. Black relinquished the chief executive role at Apollo in 2021 after an external law firm found he had paid Epstein $158 million for tax and estate planning.” (09/03/26)
- Palestine: Two murdered as squatters, Israeli regime forces invade West Bank village
Source: Al Jazeera [Qatari state media]
“Two Palestinian teenagers have been killed during a raid by [squatters] and Israeli forces in the occupied West Bank. The killings occurred during a raid in al-Mughayyir on Wednesday. The village has been the site of repeated attacks by illegal Israeli [squatters] and Israeli forces in recent months. The Palestinian Wafa news agency, citing the head of the village council, identified the victims as Mohammad Na’ssan and Khalil Abu Aliya, both 19 years old. As residents tried to confront the [squatters], Israeli soldiers opened fire on the residents, critically wounding two young men, he said. They later died from the wounds. Sources from the village told Al Jazeera that snipers had taken positions on rooftops in the village ahead of the killings.” (09/03/26)
- Clancy trial: Tensions flare as judge declines to remove juror
Source: BBC News [UK state media]
“A judge has again told the deadlocked jury in Lindsay Clancy’s murder trial to keep trying to reach a verdict after a dramatic sixth day of deliberations. Tensions flared in court after the jury forewoman sent the judge a note saying one juror would not follow the court’s instructions on reasonable doubt.
The defence team asked for the holdout to be removed, a request that was denied by the judge. Clancy, 36, is charged with three counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of her three children – Cora, five, Dawson, three, and eight-month-old Callan – at her Massachusetts family home on 24 January 2023. … If the jury does not reach a verdict and Judge Sullivan declares a mistrial, prosecutors would need to decide whether to retry the case.” (09/03/26) - Italy: Meloni regime sets longevity record
Source: Associated Press
“In a country where governments are famously short-lived, the perceived success of Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni has often been attributed to her survival skills rather than her accomplishments. On Thursday, after 1,413 days — nearly four years — Meloni’s conservative administration became Italy’s longest-serving uninterrupted government since World War II, surpassing the record set by the late Silvio Berlusconi between 2001 and 2005. None of Italy’s 68 governments in the country’s 80 years as a republic has yet to complete a five-year term without interruption. Berlusconi came closest, but a government crisis forced him to resign briefly in 2005 before forming a new Cabinet. Meloni and her party will celebrate their feat on Friday with a large preelection rally in the southern city of Bari.” (09/03/26)
- US unemployment claims tick up to 206,000 but remain at historically low levels
Source: Toledo Blade
“More Americans filed for unemployment benefits last week, but layoffs are still rare and jobless claims remain at historically low levels. The Labor Department reported Thursday filings for benefits ticked up to 206,000 last week from a revised 204,000 the week before. The four-week average of claims, which smooths out week-to-week volatility, rose modestly to 207,250 last week. Claims for jobless benefits are a proxy for layoffs, and economists watch them because they can be a sign of where the job market is headed. For the past year, claims have mostly stayed within a historically low range of 200,000 to 230,000 a week.” (09/03/26)
- Quantum Vibe, 09/07/26
Source: Big Head Press
by Scott BieserCartoon. (09/07/26)
- Stop Preparing Kids for Jobs. Teach Them to Build a Livelihood.
Source: Foundation for Economic Education
by Jennie Jones“‘Dance won’t pay well. You should choose a real job.’ ‘There aren’t many jobs in the dance world, and it’s really hard to get into. You should have a backup plan.’ And my personal favorite: after I shared with my high school counselor that I planned to dance as long as I could and then go to law school, she jokingly replied, ‘That’s just what the world needs—more dancing lawyers.’ This was the well-meaning advice I got from most of the adults in my life during my final years of high school. I was recently reflecting on that advice, now with the hindsight of more than 20 years of making a living doing things I love, and I realized where it fell short for me.” (09/04/26)
https://fee.org/articles/stop-preparing-kids-for-jobs-teach-them-to-build-a-livelihood/
- Working People Must Recognize Reform Limits of Our Economic Model
Source: Common Dreams
by Bruce T Boccardy“Our economic model is plagued with a history of periodic recessions and depressions. That history is recorded by the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER). Recessions and depressions are clinically presented as normal components of the ‘business cycle’. The NBER does not report the chronic instability and destruction of communities and working people’s lives by this ‘business cycle’. Political democracy demands economic democracy. We have statutes, laws, regulations, and rules to protect the common good. Why not apply the same principles to the relations of production? Many economists, psychologists, and journalists have attempted to rationalize the chronic crisis in our economic model. These fanciful assertions are thoroughly inadequate. As Leo Huberman chronicled in Man’s Worldly Goods, some experts actually attributed the chronic crises to radiation from the sun or the path of the planet Venus.” (09/07/26)
https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/limits-reform-economic-model
- Made in (North) America: Canada Is Not Our Enemy
Source: The Daily Economy
by David Hebert“The US factories that rely on Canadian steel, parts, energy, and expertise want President Trump not to make those inputs more expensive — and American producers less competitive.” (09/04/26)
https://thedailyeconomy.org/article/made-in-north-america-canada-is-not-our-enemy/
- MMT and the Price Controls That Never Happened
Source: Ludwig von Mises Institute
by Joshua Mawhorter“A unit of account allows us to evaluate and compare the exchange-values of heterogeneous goods by expressing those values in a common monetary unit. But for that common denominator to be meaningful, the monetary unit must itself be grounded in determinate exchange-ratios and purchasing power. Otherwise, we are attempting to express the values of other goods in terms of a unit whose own exchange-value is undefined. These realities bolster the Menger-Mises monetary theory and reveal a profound problem with chartalism, the state theory of money, and Modern Monetary Theory (MMT). This article examines a problem that would arise on the theoretical first day of chartalism: What is the referent of a newly-created fiat monetary unit? Is it market-given or politically-determined? How can a definition-less fiat-token acquire determinate exchange-value and function as a meaningful unit of account in the first place?” (09/04/26)
https://mises.org/mises-wire/mmt-and-price-controls-never-happened
- Oligarchy and Redistribution: A Reply to Paul Krugman
Source: CounterPunch
by David S D’Amato“Krugman admits that where he once saw the absurd inequalities of the present day as primarily the consequences of technological change and the market economy, ‘looking into the math’ changed his mind, and it became clear to him that ‘much of the rise of the modern American oligarchy has been driven by deliberate policy.’ The math Krugman is focused on is the tax gap and thus the effective tax rate. The problem for Krugman’s hypothesis is that the United States was already firmly an oligarchy when the tax gap was much smaller and the effective tax rate much higher. Oligarchy is not first and foremost a product of the system of taxation, and it never has been. It is rather a product of the pre-distribution of wealth through state-created special economic privileges.” (09/04/26)
https://www.counterpunch.org/2026/09/04/oligarchy-and-redistribution-a-reply-to-paul-krugman/
- The Clancy Trial: When “Twelve Angry Men” Becomes One Angry Man
Source: Jonathan Turley Blog
by Jonathan Turley“‘I hope that guy can sleep well at night.’ Those words from Kevin Reddington on the steps of the Plymouth, Massachusetts Courthouse were part of a diatribe against the ‘guy’ who was reportedly the sole holdout in the Lindsay Clancy trial. The scene was a fitting end to a visceral trial, but it added a vindictive element that should prompt Judge William Sullivan to call out the seasoned defense attorney. After declaring that the 11-1 mistrial was ‘no time to gloat’, Reddington bragged repeatedly about ‘crushing’ District Attorney Tim Cruz, whom he also attacked. He insisted that, in the trial, no one said a single negative thing about his client as a mother — ignoring that little matter of the three young children whom she had strangled to death, one by one. But it was his attack on the holdout juror that was a breathtaking abandonment of restraint and decency.” (09/07/26)
https://jonathanturley.org/2026/09/07/the-clancy-trial-when-twelve-angry-men-becomes-one-angry-man/
- The Fairy Tales of Empire
Source: Brownstone Institute
by Toby Rogers“For the last 500 years our economy has been based on conquest and domination. It started with the conquest of the New World by Europeans, who had gunpowder, horses, and hardened steel. The indigenous did not, horrors ensued. Europeans took their gold, land, and labor. And this has continued in various forms for five centuries. Yes, some of the economic growth since the 1800s has been driven by innovation. But it was built on a foundation of ill-gotten wealth that created the leisure time and the early capital that funded creativity — and then industrialization often led to new waves of exploitation.” (09/04/26)
- Working People Are Fighting Back, Because That’s What We Do
Source: OtherWords
by Aidalis Martinez“My mom worked harder than anyone I know. She wanted a good life for us. It was a hard life — I remember the Christmas she had to pawn our gifts to pay the light bill — but she made it special for us. Now I have two kids of my own, and I want them to have every opportunity that other children have. The landscape is tough out there. Like many Americans, I can’t afford childcare, and finding work that accommodates my need to care for my young children is hard. With inflation, the little income I have doesn’t go nearly as far as it used to. I’m grateful to have assistance with food, housing, and healthcare through our social safety net programs. Food programs like SNAP (aka ‘food stamps’) and WIC (the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children) have literally saved our lives when we’ve been hungry.” (09/07/26)
https://otherwords.org/struggling-families-like-mine-are-waiting-on-a-bomb-to-go-off/
- Flock is Not Just Another LPR
Source: Exiled Policy
by Nick Gambill“The Flock database system is distinct from other LPR systems for two reasons. First, Flock produces cameras that are automated license plate readers (ALPRs), meaning that they scan each and every car that drives by. Second, data collected by Flock is not stored locally like prior LPR systems. This means that every capture from Flock–plate, vehicle characteristics, exact time and GPS location, etc.–is stored in a centralized database that is accessible to any locality that has plugged into the national database. This sounds like something from science fiction or the kind of surveillance that George Orwell considered bizarre enough for his novel 1984.” (09/04/26)
https://exiledpolicy.substack.com/p/flock-is-not-just-another-lpr
- Trump Can’t Easily Steal the Midterms But He Can Sow Chaos and Doubt
Source: The UnPopulist
by Andy Craig“The courts are stopping his illegal executive orders, but he is still attempting one of the biggest political crimes in American history.” (09/04/26)
https://www.theunpopulist.net/p/trump-cant-easily-steal-the-midterms
- Mamdani Opens Office of Worker Power
Source: The American Prospect
by David Dayen“New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani has established the Office of Worker Power, a first-in-the-nation initiative to connect workers with education, resources, and organizations to help them form a union or demand better working conditions on the job. The office will also allow workers more input into city labor policies and assist them in reporting violations by their employers, Mamdani wrote in an executive order. Julie Su, the deputy mayor for economic justice and a former acting U.S. labor secretary, will coordinate efforts on the office, and Tony Perlstein, a longtime union organizer most recently with the United Auto Workers, will become its first executive director. The staff head count of the office and its budget have yet to be determined. Mamdani signed the executive order in front of workers in the construction, hotel, caregiving, and food service industries.” (09/07/26)
https://prospect.org/2026/09/07/mamdani-opens-office-of-worker-power-new-york-city-labor/
- The Benefits of Bad Publicity
Source: Law & Liberty
“I’ve argued elsewhere that ‘beautiful losers’ are people who don’t care about recognition or ‘victory’ in the culture wars. Instead, they’re active, with others, in intrinsically worthwhile pursuits, rejuvenating culture by actually doing things, not just talking about them. They’re certainly not yelling on social media about the way the pursuits have been corrupted, or loudly informing the world that they are the only ones who have things right. Still, this vision of life has a downside. In attempting to live well and do good where we are, we may begin to feel some self-doubt. Are our private activities really so meaningful? If nobody is talking about us, do we matter?” (09/04/26)
- No Mercantilists, No Masters
Source: Garrison Center
by Joel Schlosberg“[M]many of the right and many more of the left have attributed virtually every American ill since the Reagan administration to free trade and deregulation. Yet [JD] Vance argues for [Milton] Friedman’s obsolescence by contending that his ideas succeeded back then — but only due to ‘a very rich and powerful institutional Christianity’ that has become impoverished enough to require a ten-dollar substitute for its devaluated coinage. The usual demonization of Friedman posits Margaret Thatcher as a Wicked Witch East of the Atlantic to his Elphaba, ignoring his influence on Estonia and New Zealand. Vance would need to make a stretch to find the ‘powerful institutional Christianity’ responsible for the embrace of international markets in Israel, Singapore or even the India of Usha Vance’s ancestors.” (09/04/26)
- The Department of Defensiveness
Source: The Dispatch
by Mike Nelson“The current leadership in the Pentagon is quite fond of saying it is ‘the most transparent Department of Defense in history.’ Now, bald-faced misrepresentations by government officials are never healthy in a functioning republic, but one almost has to admire the chutzpah of blatantly lying about being honest. In fact, the Pentagon has endeavored to control, limit, and mislead when it comes to public information about the department, its operations, and facts affecting service members in the United States military. This effort takes multiple forms above and beyond lying to the public—firing officials based on insecure fears of unflattering whispers, putting onerous restrictions on the legacy Pentagon press corps, and, most recently, hiring a roster of propaganda artists.” (09/04/260
https://thedispatch.com/article/hegseth-pentagon-media-control-propaganda/
- The Lindsay Clancy Jury Was Tasked With an Impossible Question
Source: Reason
by Billy Binion“A jury narrowly deadlocked on Friday in the trial of Lindsay Clancy, the 36-year-old Massachusetts woman accused of killing her children. Accused is the correct word in a legal sense. But it feels like the wrong one in a general sense, because it is not in doubt that in January 2023 she killed Cora, Dawson, and Callan Clancy, her three young kids. She admits as much. The jurors instead were tasked with analyzing her state of mind. … Did she ultimately plunge into a state of psychosis? Or was she just deeply anxious and depressed? Absent clairvoyance, how on earth was a jury supposed to know which was more likely to be true? All the evidence in the world cannot transport a juror into Clancy’s mind during the moments she killed her children.” (09/04/26)
https://reason.com/2026/09/04/the-lindsay-clancy-jury-was-tasked-with-an-impossible-question/
- Lindsay Clancy’s lawyer bashes America’s juries, and batters another pillar of justice
Source: New York Post
by Glenn H Reynolds“Lawyers are supposed to protect and defend America’s justice system. Kevin Reddington, the Massachusetts attorney defending Lindsay Clancy, seems more like an abuser thereof. In what law professor Jonathan Turley described as ‘a breathtaking abandonment of restraint and decency’, Reddington went after the lone holdout juror in the case of the killer mom — a (so far) unknown figure who we’re told was one of the panel’s three males. Reddington, in an unhinged press conference after a mistrial was called, accused the dissident of stealing his fellow jurors’ time: ‘They know that they were robbed by one man for whatever his agenda was, who stole seven weeks of the life of these other jurors.’ He also charged the holdout with hostility toward the disabled — that is, toward the crazed defendant.” (09/07/26)
https://nypost.com/2026/09/07/opinion/lindsay-clancys-lawyer-bashed-our-juries-and-battered-justice/
- Who would want the US to be run like a business?
Source: Los Angeles Times
by LZ Granderson“When you run a business, the goal is to price as high as you can while producing as cheaply as you can. Using enslaved, indentured and migrant workers is how this country’s economic system came to be. Underpaying factory employees, forcing them to work 12-hour shifts, in poor conditions, with no lunch breaks, no vacations, no health insurance — all of this shaped what it means to be a laborer in the United States today. And the more we need to work to afford to have a life, the harder it is to separate being a citizen of the United States from being one of its employees.” (09/04/260
- The New Hollywood?
Source: Common Sense
by Paul Jacob“It may be the president’s goofiest idea yet. His Monday brainstorm was for the federal government to get into the movie business. In a Truth Social post, Mr. Trump floated the notion of creating a ‘Federal Production Incentive to create Entertainment Jobs in America.’ So this isn’t exactly a socialist proposal — where the government would seize the means of production and go about making movies — it’s a subsidy proposal: tax breaks; to ‘benefit ALL of America.’ Trump posts as if he has worked the math out, where the booty the government loses in direct taxation ‘will be made up tenfold by the money pouring into the Treasury’s coffers.’ A familiar rationale. But does it work?” (09/04/26)
- ICE Wants to Know Everyone Who Bought a Certain Green Beanie From REI in the Last 2 Years
Source: Wired
by Maddy Varner“Did you buy a beanie from REI recently? The Department of Homeland Security might be looking for you.
New court filings allege that Homeland Security Investigations agents subpoenaed the outdoor retailer in March, requesting the transaction information for ‘all persons’ in the greater Minneapolis-St. Paul area who had purchased a specific type of dark green beanie from the company since 2024. REI did not respond to questions about whether it had complied with the request and, if so, how many people are affected. The filings are part of a broader lawsuit by the federal government against 39 people who attended an ICE protest at a church whose pastor also worked as an acting ICE field office director. Both protesters and journalists who were attempting to cover the event, including former CNN host Don Lemon, are now defendants.” (09/04/26) - This Trump-approved trade deal is no tariff, in fact, it’s duty free
Source: Responsible Statecraft
by Dan M Ford“Tucked away in the funding package passed by Congress this week is a provision that extends the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) through the end of 2028. The two-year extension of AGOA — a preferential trade deal that offers eligible sub-Saharan countries duty-free access to the U.S. market for thousands of goods — answers the White House’s request that the agreement be extended on a short-term basis while negotiations take place over its long-term future. … Trump’s strong disapproval of preferential trade agreements led many Africa watchers to assume that AGOA was going to lapse without any effort by the administration to extend it past its September 2025 expiration. But just a day before the agreement expired, Trump came out in support of a short-term extension and expressed a desire to begin negotiations over what a long-term AGOA should look like.” (09/04/26)
- Reagan and Gorbachev on the Brink
Source: Law & Liberty
by Titus Techera“At Reykjavik, Reagan paired principle with strategy and hard-nosed negotiations.” (09/04/26)
- Was Spencer a Social Darwinist?
Source: Free Association
by Sheldon Richman“No charge leveled against individualist, pro-capitalist classical liberalism has been less deserved or more enduring than the charge of heartless Social Darwinism. The absurdity of it is obvious after a few moments’ thought. Charles Darwin’s findings on natural selection described the ‘struggle for life’ among the lower animals, which must essentially adapt themselves to their environment as they find it. (Some species instinctively make limited, repetitive modifications.) In contrast, in a capitalist society, competition turns from a life-and-death contest among consumers to a creative contest among producers who change the environment in their quest for consumers’ freely chosen custom.” (09/04/26)
https://sheldonrichman.substack.com/p/tgif-was-spencer-a-social-darwinist
- Found, But Not Rescued: Migrant deaths in the Mediterranean
Source: In These Times
by Cathy Otten“In the middle of the ocean, a man was drowning. He could not hold fast to the ropes dangling from the bow and stern of the bulk carrier that stopped to help. Below, a small, blue wooden boat crammed with people was tossed by a raging storm. As high winds sloshed water over the deck, the passengers — who had sailed for a day and a night without drinking water — rushed toward the swaying ropes. But the lines slipped through their hands. The children lacked the strength to climb. Even for the strong, a single slip could mean being crushed beneath the swaying hull of the massive ship. ‘We were all very scared in the moment and drove away from [the] big ship,’ Daniel [a pseudonym], a survivor from Eritrea, reportedly told rescuers, describing how the migrant boat he was on powered away from the larger vessel in fear of being capsized.” (09/07/26)
https://inthesetimes.com/article/migrant-deaths-mediterranean-sea-europe
- Mark Cuban and Healthcare Competition
Source: Independent Institute
by Ryanne Swanson & Raymond J March“Payton Herres successfully underwent heart transplantation surgery as a preteen. A year later, she began taking everolimus—a vital medication used to prevent her body from rejecting the transplant. Her insurance provider soon after denied coverage, leaving her with an indispensable but largely unaffordable prescription. Herres’[s] situation was alarming, but not uncommon. About 30% of Americans find themselves with uncovered treatment despite having health insurance. Unfortunately, medications for rare and/or chronic conditions, in some cases, have no generic alternatives. Not covering expensive but seldom-utilized treatments is an easy way for health insurance providers to cut costs. Unfortunately, these decisions can leave unsuspecting and financially strapped policyholders with few options. This is when Mark Cuban stepped in.” (09/04/26)
https://www.independent.org/article/2026/09/04/mark-cuban-competition-prescription-drug-coverage/
- The Adventure of Sherlock Holmes and the Future of War
Source: The American Conservative
by James P Pinkerton“So is the Pentagon doing right by drones, or not? Until there’s some new war somewhere, we simply won’t know. Obviously, plenty have loud opinions, but the paucity of hard facts—the proof is in the fighting—has inspired one savant, abiding in the immortal empyrean, to warn against bad methodology: ‘One begins to twist facts to suit theories, instead of theories to suit facts.’ Who is this sage? Why, Sherlock Holmes, of course. Okay, Holmes is a fictional character, and yet his methods—pattern recognition, omission analysis, structured inference—are timeless.” (09/04/26)
https://www.theamericanconservative.com/the-adventure-of-sherlock-holmes-and-the-future-of-war/
- The Human Cost of the Iran War
Source: Eunomia
by Daniel Larison“Since the U.S. and Israel started the war at the end of February, at least 1,700 Iranian civilians have been killed, and the total is probably much higher. Compared to the horrors of the war in Gaza, that may seem low, but these are all lives of innocent people snuffed out in a war that the president started on a whim. If not for the criminal actions of the U.S. and Israeli governments, all these people would be alive today. When we count the human cost of our government’s wars, we tend to give short shrift to the lives of the people in the country that our military is bombing. Even though Iranians are the ones bearing the brunt of our government’s aggression, their deaths and injuries are often treated as an afterthought. The loss of innocent lives caused by our military never seems to generate that much outrage.” (09/03/26)
https://daniellarison.substack.com/p/the-human-cost-of-the-iran-war
- Democratic socialists and MAGA share a dangerous flaw
Source: USA Today
by Ilya Somin“Democratic socialism is a terrible ideology. If implemented, its agenda would cause grave harm and imperil democracy itself. And in seeking massive state control of the economy, today’s socialists ironically have much in common with the MAGA nationalists they claim to oppose. Both promote government control over the economy, and both paths undermine liberty, prosperity and democracy. Socialists do not control the Democratic Party in the way MAGA largely dominates the Republicans. But their influence is growing.” (09/03/26)
- Abusing Aristotle
Source: Law & Liberty
by Michael Pakaluk“It is curious how ‘the common good,’ when it bubbles into public discourse, always seems to be at the center of bitter controversy. One would expect that everyone would be in favor of ‘the common good,’ or at worst that it would represent the kind of vaguely uplifting language that few find objectionable. Instead, it leads to rancor. That was certainly the case with the recent controversy involving public personalities at the Daily Wire, National Review, and other right-wing outlets. Critics of the New Right suspect that its members are using the phrase ‘common good’ as a sanctimonious smokescreen to avoid serious discussion of their real priorities and purpose. That suspicion, it seems to me, is largely correct.” (09/03/26)
- The New Domestic Revolution
Source: Adam Smith Institute
by Madsen Pirie“In ancient Greece and Rome a leisured class could pursue philosophy, politics and the arts because slaves did the work. … A similar transformation happened much more recently, and to far more people, without anyone being enslaved at all. It happened in the twentieth century, in the ordinary home. Before the washing machine, doing the laundry for a family could take the best part of a day: hauling water, heating it, scrubbing, wringing, hanging out to dry. Before the vacuum cleaner, carpets were beaten by hand. Before the dishwasher, someone stood at a sink after every meal. … We are now entering a new phase of the same process, and it is set to be larger than anything that came before. Robots and artificial intelligence are beginning to do the work that used to require a person.” (09/03/26)
- Trump’s immigration policies are killing the labor force
Source: Washington Post
by Stuart Anderson & Mark Regets“Donald Trump is on track to become the first president in a century to oversee a U.S. labor force that will be smaller when he leaves office than when he entered. Since the start of his second term, the number of people in the United States who are either employed or looking for a job has dropped by 1.6 million — and it’s largely because of Trump’s immigration restrictions. Unless those policies change, a shrinking workforce will cause slower economic growth and lead to more expensive public debt. This is an anomaly in U.S. history. The civilian labor force has increased by the end of every president’s term, with the possible exception of Abraham Lincoln’s because of the number of people who left the workforce to fight in the Civil War.” (09/03/26)
- Supreme Irony: Congressional Democrats Seek to Reform Institution That is More Popular Than They Are
Source: Jonathan Turley
by Jonathan Turley“Congressional Democrats blocked an effort to introduce a constitutional amendment to bar the Court’s expansion, with many members reiterating their demand to pack the Court to create an instant liberal majority. The Democrats insisted the Court is broken and no longer legitimate because of partisan rulings they want reversed by a packed Court. Ironically, the vote came with the release of the latest Harvard-Harris polling showing that Congress itself is still the least respected institution, while the Supreme Court holds higher approval than either the White House or Congress. Congress is still wallowing at 34 percent approval among the American people. Both parties are equally disliked, with 55% disapproval of the GOP and 53% disapproval of the Democratic Party. Conversely, the Supreme Court continues to enjoy far greater approval from the public, currently at 49% at ‘very favorable’ or ‘favorable’.” (09/03/26)
- Russia Is at War With the West. Don’t Call It “Hybrid.”
Source: The Next Move
by Garry Kasparov“If Russia attacks Europe, and Europe doesn’t call it war, is it actually a war? As the Kremlin continues to probe the West’s defenses, it’s clear that European leaders would prefer you call it ‘hybrid war,’ hoping that the focus stays on the ‘hybrid’ half of the equation and not on the ‘war.’ … hybrid war is a real category of warfare. It refers to an entire arsenal of non-kinetic actions a country can take to undermine its enemies. Russia has tried just about every hybrid warfare tactic you can think of: Cyberattacks. Troll farms and propaganda. Propping up far-right political parties to disrupt democracy in France and Germany. Interfering in American elections. As a KGB officer, Vladimir Putin is expert in this method, which is more subterfuge than brute force. The problem is that Russia long ago moved beyond this domain to begin carrying out open attacks on the West.” (09/03/26)
https://www.thenextmove.org/p/russia-is-at-war-with-the-west-dont
- Florida wants colleges out of politics. There’s just one problem.
Source: Expression
by Ryan Ansloan“Last week, Polk State College proudly announced that its Board of Trustees had adopted a statement committing the school to institutional neutrality. On Sept. 3, the State University System of Florida’s Board of Governors will consider taking the first formal step toward requiring all 12 universities in the system to adopt institutional-neutrality policies of their own. On the whole, that’s good news. Institutional neutrality can help colleges remain focused on their educational mission while leaving political and social debates to students and faculty. But both the Polk State policy and the proposal before the Board of Governors contain a significant loophole. Rather than hew to the clear and rare exceptions used by many schools that have adopted institutional neutrality, these policies provide a new exception that threatens to render the neutrality commitment meaningless.” (09/03/26)
https://expression.fire.org/p/florida-wants-colleges-out-of-politics
- The moving lessons of nomadic herders
Source: Christian Science Monitor
by staff“The summer of 2026 hasn’t just been a time for pastoral relaxation in the great outdoors; it’s also been a season of, and for, pastoralists. Global events have brought together hundreds of representatives from communities whose lives and livelihoods are built on pastoral or nomadic herding traditions. On Monday, the sixth World Nomad Games kicked off in Kyrgyzstan, a former Soviet republic in Central Asia. Hundreds of participants are competing in horse races and horseback wrestling, falconry, and archery, among other events. Meanwhile, over the preceding two weeks, at a conference in Mongolia – where about a third of the population is nomadic – pastoralists from around the world advocated for rights to public grazing lands and freer movement.” (09/02/26)
- TechTank, season 5, episode 48
Source: Brookings Institution
“Bans on screen time will uniquely affect students of color.” (09/07/26)
- Unattended Baggage, episode 355
Source: Unattended Baggage
“Somebody’s watching me.” (09/05/26)
https://unattendedbaggage.substack.com/p/episode-355-somebodys-watching-me
- The Good Fight, 09/05/26
Source: Yascha Mounk
“Jared Diamond on Whether Leaders Make History.” (09/05/26)
- Data Centers Are Not the Problem
Source: Reason
“But almonds might be.” (09/04/26)
https://reason.com/video/2026/09/04/data-centers-are-not-the-problem/
- Freakonomics Radio, episode 685
Source: Freakonomics Radio
“How to Survive the A.I. Shock.” (09/04/26)
https://freakonomics.com/podcast/how-to-survive-the-a-i-shock/
- The Political Orphanage, 09./04/26
Source: The Political Orphanage
“Guys with Swords Control the French Language.” (09/04/26)
https://politicalorphanage.libsyn.com/can-trump-rename-lake-ontario
- Quillette Cetera, episode 71
Source: Quillette
‘The Case for Elites with Richard Hanania.” (09/04/260
- The Fifth Column, episode 573
Source: The Fifth Column
“James B. Meigs joins the lads on 9/11 truthers, Tucker, data centers, rogue AI, Flock cameras, Texas politics, and UFOs.” (09/04/26)
https://www.wethefifth.com/p/conspiracy-theories-never-die-w-james
- The Tom Woods Show, episode 2793
Source: The Tom Woods Show
“The Right Should Not Black Pill.” (09/04/260
https://tomwoods.com/ep-2793-the-right-should-not-black-pill/
- The Anarchist Experience, episode 596
Source: The Anarchist Experience
“Rich and Riley discuss how bananas the Lindsay Clancy trial is in and out of the courtroom.” (09/04/26)
https://theanarchistexperience.wordpress.com/2026/09/04/the-anarchist-experience-596/
- Libertarian Angle, 09/03/26
Source: Future of Freedom Foundation
“Jacob and Richard discuss a fatal flaw in socialism — the labor theory of value.” (09/03/26)
- Rising, 09/03/26
Source: The Hill
“Robby Soave gives his radar on Democratic Socialist candidate Darializa Avila Chevalier calling out her fellow Democrats who voted with Republicans to condemn socialism.” (09/03/26)
- Nonzero, 09/03/26
Source: bloggingheads.tv
“Is AI a Form of Life? | Robert Wright & Paul Bloom.” (09/03/26)
- The Business List, episode 58
Source: LP Alliance
“Your source for stories in the [Libertarian Party], across the country, and around the world!” (09/03/26)
- NPR Politics Podcast, 09/03/26
Source: National Public Radio [US state media]
“A tale of two Senate candidates.” (09/03/26)
https://www.npr.org/2026/09/03/nx-s1-5955453/a-tale-of-two-senate-candidates
- Politics Politics Politics, 09/03/26
Source: Politics Politics Politics
“Could Hasan Piker Cost El-Sayed the Michigan Senate Race? (with Bill Scher).” (09/03/26)
https://www.politicspoliticspolitics.com/p/could-hasan-piker-cost-el-sayed-the
- Liberal Currents Live, 09/03/26
Source: Liberal Currents
“Russia and Ukraine—All the Ruin That Putin Can Buy.” (09/03/26)
- Joseph L. Verruni on Kruser and Krew
Source: Bluegrass Institute
“On WVLK’s Kruser and Krew, Joseph Verruni discusses energy costs and the challenges posed by data centers.” (09/03/26)
- Connor Echols on The Kyle Anzalone Show
Source: Libertarian Institute
“Why IS Israel Funding Ted Cruz’s Podcast? Is It Legal?” (09/03/26)
- Politico’s Nerdcast, 09/03/26
Source: Politico
“‘What the hell is going on with the Democratic Party?’ (with Stephen A. Smith).” (09/03/26)